Greene ( D ) -- That dreaded down game that I was wondering about after last game -- inconsistency. Got spoon fed basically all of his points on the break, otherwise bricked everything and made no other real contributions. Think he had one score on a cut against the Blazers zone -- guess after playing at Syracuse (all zone all the time) you know how to beat them. Again no boardwork. Threw away a silly behind the back pass to Hawes with a minute to go, which at least shows he knows how to pass, even if not when. Very little here.
Thompson ( A ) -- best game of his young career with career highs in both boards and points. Very active on the glass in the first half, and grabbing them over Pryzbilla (who was crossmatched) which ain't easy. Had over half of our boards by half (9). Basically just outhusteld and outworkd everyone on the court in there. Boardwork fell off after halftime, but offense picked up. In the first half it had still been mostly garbagework based on the offensive boards. After half threw in short jumpers, posted up and scored over Pryz on one play (again not easy), and made some good passes as well. In the first half you again had to question his court vision as a passer when he completely missed a wide open John Salmons under the hoop and I think ended up with 0 assists. But after half he settled in nicely and was seeing plays as they developed. Of course a lot of the half was garbaetime, but still encouraging. Competed well against the Blazers big frontline, but its becoming obvious that despite his height he is not a shotblocker at this level at this point, and it was zero again out there for us.
Miller ( C+ ) -- very quiet first half with a few little jumpers, a couple of turnovers when he tried to do too much, and not a single rebound to be seen. After the break our offense was reduced to our "center" (so called because they are supposed to play in the center of the court/offense/defense) chucking up threes. Had a few brief spurts of greasing the offense, but was giving it all away on the other end. Played solid positional defense with his body, but scored over pretty easily around the hoop. Grabbed a grand total of 3 rebounds, which isn't bad when you insist on playing as far away from the hoop as Beno. Scored 16 points on 7-9 shooting, but as you can tell by the grade I did not like his game at all tonight. The softness was just dripping off of it as he ran further and further and further from the hoop passively floating up little jumpers, and then left Jason to fend for himself on the glass as well. Had the worst +/- on the team tongiht. Those things are often deceptive. This time it was not.
Salmons ( D- ) -- Have no idea what happened here -- John just did not show up. Got off to the slowish start wiht 4pts on 2-6 shooting in the first quarter, but little did you realize that was actually going to be his offensive fireworks for the night. On the other end was playing solid defense, but Roy was hitting some tough shots over him. Got to the rim a couple of times, but there was never any major push. Only real sign of life we had from him was unfortunately of the wrong kind after the blowout was underway in the third quarter. Seeing the rest of his teamates helpless to stop it, John decided to stop it singlehandedly himself. Which of course means the normal no passing forced shooting fugliness that normally results when John puts his head down and gets selfish. Otherwise...just never showed up. And after a couple of big games in a row, that's a mystery.
Beno ( B ) -- ran the team really well in the early going, but continues to refuse to guard the 3pt line, and got burned repeatedly because of it by Blake, first in man to man, then as the nearest man in the zone. Actualy even when he finally did crowd him on a couple of third quarter possessions, Blake still bombed them right in Beno's face. Sat out much of the second quarter with Bobby Brown going well, which kept his minutes down. Didn't do muhc after half, and got clocked in the jaw by Oden near the end of the 3rd, and went to the locker room thereafter. Hard to tell with that sort of injury, but he may have been doing the soccer thing. Definitely got hit, but you would have thought he'd been sniped by a high powered rifle. Did not return.
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Hawes ( B- ) -- strong second quarter on offense, hitting just about everything from everywhere. Even consented to attempt, and make, a hook in the post over a mostly ineffective Greg Oden. Blocked one of Oden's shots up against the buzzer too. On the other hand started to get lit up late in the half by LaMarcus Aldridge, and was getting nothing done on the glass. Offense dried up after half (did try Oden again, but no go), and the rebounding never did pick up, finishing with the same number (3) as noted softie Channing Frye, but in twice his minutes (34). Competed on defense with his length, and had a better mix of inside/outside on offense (better meaning a lot of inside), but the anemic rebounding holds this one down this time. He and Brad combined to grab 6 rebounds in 64 minutes tonight. Pryzbilla/Oden had 18 in 43 min.
BJax ( C ) -- seemed to be doing better out there than the numbers would have indicated in the first half. Was competitive and forcing the pace. But never could get the shots to fall this time out, and wasn't in a position to impact much running much of the time alongside 4 guys young enough to be his children (if he was a precocious teen).
Brown ( B ) -- Going to struggle with this grade, because there is a statistical anomaly that I first took for a misprint and cannot account for from my viewing of the game. Brown came in an beat the first quarter buzzer with a layup, and then had himself a big second quarter. It was all playground of course, all about the me and the I, but put his head down and drove and drove again with no fear of the Blazers big front line. So far so good. Had a setup assist on the break as well. However, and here is the baffling thing, came back to play the extended (and I do mean extended) garbagetime minutes, had a couple of more hits along with a couple of selfish forces, but according to the box score also notched up no fewer than a Nash-esque 6 assists in that final quarter. And that...I did not see. I would have been hard pressed to remember him making 6 passes, let alone 6 assists. remember one late, nice feed on the break under the hoop. But 6?? And a career high 7 assists? Can't account for it. Can only assume somebody in his camp bribed the official scorer, so am going to largely ignore it and go on what I saw -- an aggressive scorer largely looking for his own shot who had a couple of nice little dump off type assists along the way.
Douby ( C ) -- in for the garbage period (the 4th). Hit a couple of layups. Ineffective on defense and may want to note that Rudy Fernandez can really play and will light you up if you do not smother him on defense.
Williams ( INC ) -- only in for the final couple of minutes of garbagetime, as we went with Spencer most of the way. Missed a baseline jumper...actually don't remember the one he made. Anyway, not much.
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Theus ( B- ) -- The way this one turned out surprised me. During a generally competitive first half I actually felt we were playing pretty good defense. Were hustling at least...everywhere but the 3pt line. And really it was just the Blazers hitting some great tough shots against us as much as anything. Blake was having a career night, Roy had some tough finishes, Aldridge got one to go while falling down away from Brad, etc. So if you had asked me at half, I would almost have predicted that the Blazers wouldn't be able to keep up that level of hot shooting, and that if we maintained our effort we would have a good shot. Er...damn.
Some of the story can be told through a tale of two zones, theirs and ours. We started experimenting with the zone early in this one, and this was just not the night for it. Did you know that Portland leads the league in 3pt shooting % (and this even without their best in Martell Webster)? Well our coaches apparently did not. So we experiment with zone, and the Blazers just bombed the hell out of us for the favor. On the other hand, in the 2nd quarter the Blazers started to experiment with a 2-3 zone, and it really threw us out of rhythm. Not only that, but they, unlike us, found ways to continue rebounding even while in the zone. It was not all that went on in this game, but it was one of the storylines. In any case, best way to look at this is as another good kiddie development game. And here again the Maloofs war drums seem a bit misplaced. Reggie may need to go after the year, but he is flat out playing the kids (we'll see how it goes once everybody gets healthy). Tonight we had no fewer than three guys in their 1st or 2nd years notch 30+ min (Thompson, Hawes, Greene) and Bobby Brown got 24. That is what this season is truly about, and on that front at least, we did well. And so, no disastrous grade for this one. Game strategy maybe needs some work, but this is a rebuilding year, and Reggie coached mostly like a rebuilding coach.
Thompson ( A ) -- best game of his young career with career highs in both boards and points. Very active on the glass in the first half, and grabbing them over Pryzbilla (who was crossmatched) which ain't easy. Had over half of our boards by half (9). Basically just outhusteld and outworkd everyone on the court in there. Boardwork fell off after halftime, but offense picked up. In the first half it had still been mostly garbagework based on the offensive boards. After half threw in short jumpers, posted up and scored over Pryz on one play (again not easy), and made some good passes as well. In the first half you again had to question his court vision as a passer when he completely missed a wide open John Salmons under the hoop and I think ended up with 0 assists. But after half he settled in nicely and was seeing plays as they developed. Of course a lot of the half was garbaetime, but still encouraging. Competed well against the Blazers big frontline, but its becoming obvious that despite his height he is not a shotblocker at this level at this point, and it was zero again out there for us.
Miller ( C+ ) -- very quiet first half with a few little jumpers, a couple of turnovers when he tried to do too much, and not a single rebound to be seen. After the break our offense was reduced to our "center" (so called because they are supposed to play in the center of the court/offense/defense) chucking up threes. Had a few brief spurts of greasing the offense, but was giving it all away on the other end. Played solid positional defense with his body, but scored over pretty easily around the hoop. Grabbed a grand total of 3 rebounds, which isn't bad when you insist on playing as far away from the hoop as Beno. Scored 16 points on 7-9 shooting, but as you can tell by the grade I did not like his game at all tonight. The softness was just dripping off of it as he ran further and further and further from the hoop passively floating up little jumpers, and then left Jason to fend for himself on the glass as well. Had the worst +/- on the team tongiht. Those things are often deceptive. This time it was not.
Salmons ( D- ) -- Have no idea what happened here -- John just did not show up. Got off to the slowish start wiht 4pts on 2-6 shooting in the first quarter, but little did you realize that was actually going to be his offensive fireworks for the night. On the other end was playing solid defense, but Roy was hitting some tough shots over him. Got to the rim a couple of times, but there was never any major push. Only real sign of life we had from him was unfortunately of the wrong kind after the blowout was underway in the third quarter. Seeing the rest of his teamates helpless to stop it, John decided to stop it singlehandedly himself. Which of course means the normal no passing forced shooting fugliness that normally results when John puts his head down and gets selfish. Otherwise...just never showed up. And after a couple of big games in a row, that's a mystery.
Beno ( B ) -- ran the team really well in the early going, but continues to refuse to guard the 3pt line, and got burned repeatedly because of it by Blake, first in man to man, then as the nearest man in the zone. Actualy even when he finally did crowd him on a couple of third quarter possessions, Blake still bombed them right in Beno's face. Sat out much of the second quarter with Bobby Brown going well, which kept his minutes down. Didn't do muhc after half, and got clocked in the jaw by Oden near the end of the 3rd, and went to the locker room thereafter. Hard to tell with that sort of injury, but he may have been doing the soccer thing. Definitely got hit, but you would have thought he'd been sniped by a high powered rifle. Did not return.
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Hawes ( B- ) -- strong second quarter on offense, hitting just about everything from everywhere. Even consented to attempt, and make, a hook in the post over a mostly ineffective Greg Oden. Blocked one of Oden's shots up against the buzzer too. On the other hand started to get lit up late in the half by LaMarcus Aldridge, and was getting nothing done on the glass. Offense dried up after half (did try Oden again, but no go), and the rebounding never did pick up, finishing with the same number (3) as noted softie Channing Frye, but in twice his minutes (34). Competed on defense with his length, and had a better mix of inside/outside on offense (better meaning a lot of inside), but the anemic rebounding holds this one down this time. He and Brad combined to grab 6 rebounds in 64 minutes tonight. Pryzbilla/Oden had 18 in 43 min.
BJax ( C ) -- seemed to be doing better out there than the numbers would have indicated in the first half. Was competitive and forcing the pace. But never could get the shots to fall this time out, and wasn't in a position to impact much running much of the time alongside 4 guys young enough to be his children (if he was a precocious teen).
Brown ( B ) -- Going to struggle with this grade, because there is a statistical anomaly that I first took for a misprint and cannot account for from my viewing of the game. Brown came in an beat the first quarter buzzer with a layup, and then had himself a big second quarter. It was all playground of course, all about the me and the I, but put his head down and drove and drove again with no fear of the Blazers big front line. So far so good. Had a setup assist on the break as well. However, and here is the baffling thing, came back to play the extended (and I do mean extended) garbagetime minutes, had a couple of more hits along with a couple of selfish forces, but according to the box score also notched up no fewer than a Nash-esque 6 assists in that final quarter. And that...I did not see. I would have been hard pressed to remember him making 6 passes, let alone 6 assists. remember one late, nice feed on the break under the hoop. But 6?? And a career high 7 assists? Can't account for it. Can only assume somebody in his camp bribed the official scorer, so am going to largely ignore it and go on what I saw -- an aggressive scorer largely looking for his own shot who had a couple of nice little dump off type assists along the way.
Douby ( C ) -- in for the garbage period (the 4th). Hit a couple of layups. Ineffective on defense and may want to note that Rudy Fernandez can really play and will light you up if you do not smother him on defense.
Williams ( INC ) -- only in for the final couple of minutes of garbagetime, as we went with Spencer most of the way. Missed a baseline jumper...actually don't remember the one he made. Anyway, not much.
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Theus ( B- ) -- The way this one turned out surprised me. During a generally competitive first half I actually felt we were playing pretty good defense. Were hustling at least...everywhere but the 3pt line. And really it was just the Blazers hitting some great tough shots against us as much as anything. Blake was having a career night, Roy had some tough finishes, Aldridge got one to go while falling down away from Brad, etc. So if you had asked me at half, I would almost have predicted that the Blazers wouldn't be able to keep up that level of hot shooting, and that if we maintained our effort we would have a good shot. Er...damn.
Some of the story can be told through a tale of two zones, theirs and ours. We started experimenting with the zone early in this one, and this was just not the night for it. Did you know that Portland leads the league in 3pt shooting % (and this even without their best in Martell Webster)? Well our coaches apparently did not. So we experiment with zone, and the Blazers just bombed the hell out of us for the favor. On the other hand, in the 2nd quarter the Blazers started to experiment with a 2-3 zone, and it really threw us out of rhythm. Not only that, but they, unlike us, found ways to continue rebounding even while in the zone. It was not all that went on in this game, but it was one of the storylines. In any case, best way to look at this is as another good kiddie development game. And here again the Maloofs war drums seem a bit misplaced. Reggie may need to go after the year, but he is flat out playing the kids (we'll see how it goes once everybody gets healthy). Tonight we had no fewer than three guys in their 1st or 2nd years notch 30+ min (Thompson, Hawes, Greene) and Bobby Brown got 24. That is what this season is truly about, and on that front at least, we did well. And so, no disastrous grade for this one. Game strategy maybe needs some work, but this is a rebuilding year, and Reggie coached mostly like a rebuilding coach.
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